Analysis of Milky Way Fermi bubble high-velocity clouds suggests a foreign origin

Bob Yirka is a research scientist at Phys.org.

A team of researchers with affiliations to multiple institutions in the U.S. have found that the metal content of the Fermi bubble high-velocity clouds does not match the material in the Milky Way's galactic center. The group describes their analysis of the makeup of the clouds in their paper.

The center of the galactic plane that forms the Milky Way galaxy is shown in the prior research. The nickname "Fermi bubbles" is a result of prior research suggesting that the lobes are a type of gas formation. The research suggests that there are gas cloud formations inside the bubbles.

The researchers took a closer look at the HVCs to find out more about them.

If the ratios of metals in the clouds matched other material in the vicinity, it would help confirm theories that suggest a local origin. New theories would have to be drawn up if there wasn't a match.

In analyzing both new and archival data from multiple telescopes, the researchers found that in many cases, there was no match, indicating that at least some of the material in the clouds had to have come from more distant places. There are a lot of possibilities, which could take years of research.

More information: Trisha Ashley et al, Diverse metallicities of Fermi bubble clouds indicate dual origins in the disk and halo, Nature Astronomy (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41550-022-01720-0 Journal information: Nature Astronomy

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